CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Based on preliminary data in Illinois, the
statewide average temperature for February was 25.1 degrees, 5.1 degrees below
normal. Snowfall for February was above normal. Amounts ranged from 6 inches in
southern Illinois to over 18 inches in the Quad Cities and Chicago areas, according
to State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey (http://www.isws.illinois.edu).

The cold February, along
with colder-than-normal temperatures in December and January, made this the 19th
coldest winter on record. Winters in the late 1970s were still much colder with
a virtual tie between the winter of 1977-1978 at 19.6 degrees and the winter of
1978-1979 at 19.9 degrees.

Winter snowfall totals (December—February)
ranged from about 45 inches in northeast Illinois to just under 15 inches in
southern Illinois. This was 1 to 3 inches above normal for southern Illinois to
over 10 inches above normal in northern and western Illinois. Wintertime
precipitation, both rainfall and the water content of snow, measured 7.04
inches and was 0.35 inches above normal.

All indications are that
soil moisture is above normal across the state. Much of northern and western
Illinois still have some snow cover to melt as well. The latest National
Weather Service outlook for March calls for an increased chance of below-normal
temperatures in the southern two-thirds of Illinois. It also calls for an
increased chance of drier-than-normal conditions for the month.

"This has been an
unusually cold and snowy winter for Illinois and much of the nation. I think
everyone is ready for spring now," concludes Angel.

The Illinois State Water
Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a division of the
Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, is the primary agency in Illinois
concerned with water and atmospheric resources.